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player ready...The sweet history of maple sugar, including its collection and its role in the region, is being explored this weekend during the 47th annual Maple Sugar Time Festival at Chellberg Farm in the Indiana Dunes National Park.
“Maple Sugar Time at the park is a celebration of the history of maple sugaring in Northwest Indiana and its effects on people’s lives,” said park ranger and volunteer program manager James Whitenack. “The Maple Sugar Trail takes visitors past multiple stops that demonstrate how sugaring has changed over time.”
Whitenack and volunteers were busy over the last few weeks preparing the sap to make maple syrup.
“We need freezing nights and thawing days for sap runs,” said Whitenack. “During a sap run, a tree sends nutrients to its leaf buds. This happens in the spring.”
“The sap is a mixture of water, minerals and sugar,” said Whitenack. “The sap provides energy to get all the buds open so the leaves can start making their own sugar through photosynthesis. Sap is around 98% water and 2% sugar.”
“We take advantage of this process in the making of maple syrup,” said Whitenack. “We tap the tree using a drill and then we insert a maple tap. This tap then helps channel the sap into a collection point like a bucket.”
After collecting many gallons of sap, the sap is then boiled to remove a lot of the water.
“Sap is cooked until it reaches the goal of about 66% sugar,” said volunteer John Roquet of Porter, who has been volunteering at the Dunes for 35 years. Roquet and volunteer Richard Zimnawoda were testing the consistency of the syrup and keeping the wood burning at Chellberg Farm’s sugar shack.
“It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup,” said Whitenack.
Maple Sugar Time weekend will welcome approximately 2,000 visitors a day based on past years. Visitors can learn how Native Americans first boiled maple sap into sugar and how early settlers used large iron kettles to make syrup, and pass by the sugar shack where the sap is boiled down the way the Chellberg family did it back in the 1930s, according to the park’s website.
Kids can also learn how to tap a tree at the Maple Fun Zone and can meet some of the farm animals while enjoying a maple syrup snow cone.
The family-friendly event is sponsored by the Friends of Indiana Dunes, Inc., and will host many activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Chellberg Farm is located on Mineral Springs Road between U.S. Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 12 in Porter, Indiana. For more information, visit www.nps.gov.indu.
Deena Lawley-Dixon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.